Anchorage work session reviews AMC 1.15 ethics rules; officers urged to 'disclose, disclose, disclose'

Municipal ethics officer Paul Urvosti told the Anchorage Assembly at a May 2 work session that the municipal code of ethics (AMC 1.15) is designed to protect public resources and public trust and that disclosure is the primary shield for officials facing possible conflicts of interest.

Urvosti, who also serves as the administrative hearing officer and said he is temporarily the interim director of the Anchorage Equal Rights Commission, led the session and focused most of his time on conflicts of interest, which he described as the most frequent issue the board of ethics sees. "Public service is a public trust," Urvosti said, summarizing the code's purpose.

The presentation canvassed key topics in AMC 1.15: permissible and prohibited conflicts of interest; the duty to disclose "potential" conflicts that a reasonable person could see as substantial; limits on use of municipal resources; restrictions on partisan or political activity using municipal assets; gift rules; post-employment restrictions; and the board of ethics' advisory-opinion process.

Why it matters: Urvosti told assembly members that failure to disclose — not merely having…